Political differences are legitimate forms of free speech. Exploiting an international (or domestic) crisis for political gain reflects poor judgment at best, craven deceit at worst. Using the invasion of our closest ally, Israel, as political fodder is inexcusable.

In response to the capturing of more than a hundred innocent Israelis and Americans, and the bombing of several Israeli cities with loss of lives triple that, some Republicans have alleged that American taxpayer dollars were used for the invasion. Their reasoning was that Iran had used some of its funds, recently released by the United States, to finance the operation.

Former President Donald Trump said he would not be surprised if Iran put the “tremendous wealth that they just accumulated” toward the violence in Israel.

“To think that they’re not moving money around is irresponsible,” Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the United Nations, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “They hate Israel. They hate America. They are going to continue to use this. It was wrong to release the $6 billion.” https://www.reuters.com/world/us/what-have-us-presidential-candidates-said-about-hamas-attack-israel-2023-10-09/

Speaking at a campaign event in Iowa on Monday, DeSantis pushed back on the fact the funds had yet to be transferred to Iran. “You take Biden’s $6 billion to plug that hole and you can free up other money for terrorism.” https://www.reuters.com/world/us/what-have-us-presidential-candidates-said-about-hamas-attack-israel-2023-10-09/

These were deliberate lies because:

1. The alleged funds were not taxpayer dollars, but payment for Iranian oil by South Korea.
2. The released funds were lying untouched in a bank account supervised by the Kingdom of Qatar.
3. Under the U.S.- Iran agreement the funds could only be drawn for purchase of food, medicine, and other essentials. The purchase would be regulated by Qatar and the United States.

All this was reported by a Fox news commentator, Jennifer Griffen, on Tuesday, the same day the allegations were made by Republican candidates. These facts had to be known by the candidates.  If they didn’t know, then shame on them.

The blame game has already begun in Israel, where the liberal media accuses Prime Minister Netanyahu of not keeping his eye on the ball, because of internal squabbles. That is speculative and exploitive, although not as much as a foreign country trying to make political hay out of a tragedy-laden crisis in another country.

Doubtless the ruthless claws of Iran will be implicated in this declared war, but it will require weeks or months of data gathering and analysis before reasonable conclusions can be drawn.  Generally the United States is extremely cautious about making allegations about foreign countries, unlike some of its adversaries, e.g. Russia, Iran, North Korea, and often China.  It is a feature of our justice system, believing that even nations are innocent until proven guilty.

Ironically most of the Republican candidates have insisted on the same rights for Donald Trump, charged with 94 indictments at last count.  Perhaps some of those indictments will stick, but no decent public figure should presume the allegations are facts. An accusation is one thing; a conviction is another. Probably that same standard could be applied to Joe Biden, if his accusers would be fair. However, I haven’t heard anyone from the Republican Party defend the President on the grounds of “innocent until proven guilty.”

Candidates for public office can look for an edge. No one faults that, because every candidate does it. But candidates should be extra cautious when speculating about the causes of violence in a foreign country.  If they go public with suspicions, they should qualify them as suspicions. And if their suspicions implicate foreign nations, they should keep their mouths shut until the facts are in.